She Rides - by Alenka Vrecek (Paperback)

About the Book

This deeply personal memoir of Alenka Vrecek's 2,500-mile solo bikepacking pilgrimage along the spine of the snow-covered Sierra Nevada and into the hostile desert mountains and plains of Mexico's Baja Peninsula--a story about crossing emotional, physical, and cultural boundaries--will inspire readers to follow their own dreams as Alenka followed hers.

Book Synopsis

This deeply personal memoir of Alenka Vrecek's 2,500-mile solo bikepacking pilgrimage along the spine of the snow-covered Sierra Nevada and into the hostile desert mountains and plains of Mexico's Baja Peninsula-a story about crossing emotional, physical, and cultural boundaries--will inspire readers to follow their own dreams as Alenka followed hers.

Review Quotes

"A gripping account of small-scale adventure and self-discovery."
-Kirkus Reviews

"A universal story of healing, hope, grit, and determination. Alenka's bike trip from Tahoe to Baja is a heroine's journey that will hold you in its grip. But it's also a love story--about knowing what matters most and finding your way back home."
--Valerie Andrews, editor of Reinventing Home and author of A Passion for this Earth

"Alenka Vrecek invites us to sit side-saddle as she rides from Tahoe to the tip of Baja, battling headwinds and heartache, illness and injury, and others' ideas of who and how a fifty-four-year-old woman should be. Gripping, wise, and snort-coffee-out-your-nose funny, She Rides will make you want to drop everything, get good and lost, and find your way back home."
--Brian Benson, author of Going Somewhere

"She Rides is heartfelt and riveting from the opening lines. So much more than a grueling bicycle adventure, Vrecek openly shares her feelings of longing for her home country, the fallout from the dissolution of her first marriage, and the prospect that she might not recover from cancer. Ultimately, through courage, fortitude, and sheer badass strength, she makes the most important discovery of all, that she can unflinchingly face any challenge and confront every obstacle head on. And that she's just fine being who she is."
--Michael Shapiro, author of A Sense of Place

"We all embark on journeys of discovery, whether in our own neighborhood or faraway lands, but few of us take on the rigors that Alenka Vrecek does in She Rides. The psychological and emotional challenges of this solo-cycling marathon from Lake Tahoe to southern Baja are as daunting as the physical ones, but she navigates them all, emerging from the experience having found what she was seeking: her place in the world."
--Larry Habegger, Executive Editor of Travelers' Tales Books

"In She Rides, Alenka Vrecek finds inner strength and a community that crosses both borders and boundaries as she travels by mountain bike alone on backroads from Lake Tahoe, California, to La Ventana, Baja. Her exciting story will be inspirational--and maybe even a comfort--to women across the globe."
--Laura Read, journalist, photographer, and editor

"Daring herself with the fantasy of bicycling from Tahoe to Baja--right after a string of daunting medical challenges--Alenka Vercek proves that our only limits are the ones we impose on ourselves. Filled with scenic beauty and personal reflection, She Rides is a keenly observed account of Vercek's odyssey through many worlds, inner and outer."
--Jeff Greenwald, author of Snake Lake

"She Rides is a tale of the spunk, perseverance, and desire it took for Alenka to not only finish the ride but always live life to the fullest. It's also funny, humble, and a touching tribute to the human spirit."
--Tim Hauserman, author of Going it Alone: Ramblings and Reflections from the Trail